Consideration of the water feature for both general maintenance and its ability to support fish life are very important. Many times a person will indicates that they have no interest in keeping fish, later decide that fish might be another enjoyable aspect of the water feature. They later find that the feature is not capable of providing a proper environment for the fish or other aquatic creatures do to size or the type of construction or both

Cleanliness sometimes becomes important to a person and they make efforts to keep the inside of the bowl, rocks, gravel and statuary like new and film free. No matter if the feature is the simple bowl or a larger amount of water, nature will take over and will begin to achieve its own balance. Sometimes chemicals can be added to the water that will help in the reduction or elimination of algae, but a person needs to be careful about the selection of chemicals because of the effect they might have on the aquatic life in the water and the mechanical features such as pumps as well. Algae are a normal part of the life cycle in your water. New pools of water will develop what is called an algal bloom within a few weeks of being set up. If left alone, the algae will consume the available nutrients in the water, die off and settle to the sides and bottom of the pond leaving the water relatively clear. To help minimize algal bloom, you need to find a balance of fish, plants and fertilizer/food.

The addition of oxygenating plant life is an important part of achieving the balance in the feature, remembering that this balance if very delicate and can be thrown of balance by the addition of too many fish, not enough plant life, not enough water or the addition of too much water at a given time. Add water to the pool, as needed remembering that during hot and/or windy days, water will evaporate quickly. Avoid disturbing the balance in your pond by correcting the water level frequently. Adding large amounts of fresh water often leads to a new algal bloom as the pool strives to rebalance itself.

In our climate most water features can be left alone during the winter without any freezing problems. As long as the feature does not freeze solid fish and hardy plants will do fine. If the feature has a small amount of water caution should be taken for freezing and at least the pump should be removed. Fish should never be added to small bodies of water since the fish will be very sensitive to the change of water temperature, the more water and the deeper the water the less the temperature change will be.

Having a water feature in the landscape will require maintenance and an education of the owner. This is no time to re-invent the wheel by going through a trial and error period. One of the worst mistakes an owner can make is to keep asking different sources for information about the same thing. Different answers may come about and the confusion will begin. There are many books written about water features including ponds and keeping fish. Not only are there books written, there are also several web sites as well. Keep in mind that the people who provide fish and pond equipment have a bulk of knowledge and may put on mini-seminars to help the customer with their hobby. Each year local clubs will put on weekend programs that will include display of new products and the presentation and sale of fish, plants, pumps and other related products.